In Santiago the relics of St. James are venerated in a silver reliquary in the crypt beneath the main altar, and pilgrims climb behind the altar to embrace the statue of the Apostle. Those who walk at least the last 100 km (62 miles) of a recognized route for religious or spiritual reasons can receive the Compostela certificate. A Compostelan Holy Year falls whenever July 25, the feast of St. James, is a Sunday; the next is 2027.
Castile is the country of the Carmelite saints. In Ávila pilgrims visit the convent built over St. Teresa’s birthplace, the Monastery of the Incarnation where she lived for 27 years, and San José, her first reformed foundation, of 1562. She died in 1582 at Alba de Tormes, near Salamanca, where her tomb and relics are venerated in the convent she founded. St. John of the Cross is entombed in the Carmelite church he founded in Segovia.
The northeast follows St. Ignatius and Our Lady. Loyola, in the Basque Country, is built around the tower house where Ignatius was born and converted. Montserrat, about 50 km (31 miles) from Barcelona, is the Benedictine abbey of the Black Madonna, patroness of Catalonia, and Manresa nearby keeps the cave where Ignatius prayed in 1522 and 1523 and began the Spiritual Exercises. In Barcelona, the Basilica of the Sagrada Família was dedicated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Zaragoza’s Basilica of the Pillar stands where, by tradition, Mary came to console St. James. Valencia Cathedral keeps an ancient agate cup that tradition identifies with the cup of the Last Supper; its documented history begins in 1399.
Spain is large, so choose a region instead of crossing the country. Walkers go to Galicia; Barcelona, Montserrat, and Manresa fit in a few days without a car; Ávila, Alba de Tormes, and Segovia make a Carmelite circuit from Madrid. Montserrat is an easy day trip from Barcelona by train, and each shrine publishes its own hours.